Options exist when saving a newborns cord blood

When a baby is born, blood that remains in his or her placenta and the attached umbilical cord blood is rich in stem cells that can potentially be used to treat certain diseases and genetic disorders.

And as medical technology has evolved, so has the ability to use cord blood that save lives and treat diseases. Today, parents of newborns have the option of banking their babys cord blood privately for their own possible future use, or they can donate it to a public bank similar to donating blood where it may be used to help others with a variety of illnesses.

July is National Cord Blood Awareness Month, a time when many health care providers and blood banks encourage the public to learn more about cord blood research and donations.

Sharon White, manager of the perinatal special care unit at Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women & Newborns said over 70 diseases can be treated with cord blood stem cells, such as acute and chronic leukemias, inherited metabolic and immune system disorders, plasma cell disorders and diseases such as breast cancer, neuroblastoma and renal cell carcinoma.

Dr. Lisa Brown, the physician in charge of national child health for the obgyn department at Kaiser Permanente San Diego, said stem cells from cord blood are used mainly to treat disorders of the blood. Since cord blood was first transplanted successfully in 1988, roughly 7,000 similar transplants have been performed, she said.

Stem cells in cord blood are valuable, she said, because they can become several different types of cells when transplanted in the body. For instance, she said, a patient with leukemia or lymphoma would typically get chemotherapy and radiation to destroy their own stem cells in the bone marrow that are causing illness. Those stem cells can then be replaced with healthy stem cells from cord blood. She said once transplanted, the new stem cells make copies of themselves and make blood cells a less painful option than getting stem cells from bone marrow.

To get stem cells from an umbilical cord is not dangerous, its not painful, she said.

Today, all new parents have the option of banking or donating their newborns cord blood. Some local hospital systems, such as Sharp Mary Birch, have partnered with private banks such as StemCyte to give parents the option of collecting and saving their babys cord blood at birth. Other systems, such as Scripps and the Navy, collect cord blood donations for public use through the San Diego Blood Bank. The blood bank first began collecting cord blood a decade ago, but then suppressed the program for financial reasons before ramping up collection efforts again about a year ago, said Chief Executive Officer David Wellis.

Some health care systems offer multiple options. White said Sharp Mary Birch offers private cord blood banking where parents have their babys cord blood collected at birth and stored for potential future use, as well as a related-donor cord blood program where a babys umbilical cord blood can be collected and used to treat a biological sibling or parent with a disease. Theres a fee with both these options. The hospital also offers public banking at no cost where parents donate their babys cord blood to others in need and to further cord blood research.

Originally posted here:
Options exist when saving a newborns cord blood